Questionable Methods
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Naru was an exceptional person. It was just difficult to see it because she was always playing dumb. now years later she's the greatest shinobi the leaf village has ever seen. and she's on a mission that could label her a traitor.
1. Chapter 1

Kushina was dead.

It was this horrible realisation that was why he was sobbing uncontrolably as he gently ran his bloody, dirty, shaky fingers through her long silky red hair as he cradled their infant daughter against his chest. His wife... His wonder, beautiful, funny little Kushina was dead.

She had died so soon. Much sooner than he had thought that she would with all of the Kyubbi's chakra's pulled from her body. He had hoped that he could sustain her life. To give her some of his chakra and replace a little bit that had been taken, but there was one problem. He also had no chakra left.

His fight with Madara and the nine tailed fox had taken everything that he'd had and more. Meaning that like his wife, he would die very soon. Leaving his infant daughter alone in a world that would destroy her if she let it. "Oh Shina..." This isn't the way it was supposed to be. He and his wife had just had a baby! They should have had months, years even to spend together with their child.

They should have had the rest of their lives! Gods it was so unfair.

The baby started to stir, her little head moving slightly to the side and rubbing against part of his vest a soft 'waaah' sound escaping the little one drawing his attention away from his dead wife's corpse to the little one. His dull azure blue eyes staring down into the most beautiful deep violet blue eyes he had ever seen. He was dying, so he should say something to her right? Even though he doubted that his daughter would understand his words. But even so-

What did a dying father say to his child?

Did he say, I love you, until his voice gave out? Did he tell his child to live for him? To love the ones special enough to become a part of her world? To be strong, and wise and never throw their life away for ingrates? He licked his dry lips and tightened his hold on the child.

His daughter would be special.

She would do what no child has ever done before.

She would bring about a new world order. One where shinobi were no longer needed. And she would live her life, love her people and one day...

He had a preminition about his daughter. He could see her sixteen or seventeen years from today, standing before the village and it's people wearing the Kage's robes and smiling. Her violet eyes sparkling like jewels.

He felt himself smile and blinked as the preminition came to an end and lightly ran the index finger of his free hand along the curve of her little cheek.

"I won't waste time and mince words, little one. Life _will_ be hard. And you will _not_ have the luxury of running away... I know that asking you to live for them would be cruel, but they need you, and I can't trust anyone but you to know what to do. But in the mean time remember this-" He held his free hand up above the baby's head so that she could see his fingers and he smiled and wiggled them at her to get her attention. "1) Don't trust anyone but the Kage, and Kakashi. Maybe a few others, but the two that I just named are the ones most likely to have your back in everything that you do. _Everything._ 2) Hold on to the freinds you make. Because if you're lucky you'll have some great, great friends."

" 3) Be kind even to the people that hurt you. This will make you more endearing to them and they will stop hurting you. 4) Marry someone ruthless, and wise. And here is the reason why..." He looked over at Kunshina again and felt his lips curve up in a smile again. "Someone ruthless, is more likely to take care of you, and keep you safe from harm. They'll watch you, and study you in ways that will make you nervous and tie you up in knots. But they would'nt do it if they didn't love you so much. And if I could suggest someone-I'd suggest Kakashi. He's a great guy and he'll be watching you from this day on. _You_ will be his single greatest joy. He'll play his mind games with you, test you, infuriate you, but at the end of the day-he'll always smile and say well done and treat you to ramen. And if he does'nt...kick him in the shins. He'll get the idea really quick."

He was having trouble breathing now. His heart was stopping and starting over and over again, desperately trying to pump blood through his wounded and dying body. He took a shuddering breath and blinked back more tears. "Always remember that you're mom and I love you...so very much. And that we'll be watching. So...live well. I love you baby." He leaned his head down and kissed his daughter on the cheek and never raised his head.

He was gone.

(********************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Okay. Here is the intro to my new story.

The next chapter will pick up nine years later on Naru's first day of school.


	2. Chapter 2

Nine years later-

Iruka Umino was walking through the village deep in thought. He had just come from a meeting with the Hokage about his new job as a teacher at the school and was a little troubled to find out who his new student was. Naru Uzumaki, the village demon container.

It was'nt that he bore the child any ill will or anything, it was just that he really, _really _didn't know what to do with her. He had seen her chucking bright red and green and blue paint onto the faces of monument mountain while he had been in his meeting with the Hokage.

He had been just a little suprised by how violent the action of chucking several cans of paint over the side of the mountain had seemed. Yet the girl hadn't screamed out curses or anything, she had just tossed the paint over the side and then stuffed her hands in her pockets and walked off.

He sighed tiredly and wondered what he was going to do with her since he doubted that anyone would really be able to reach her and calm that wildness in her. He heard a man up ahead yelling at someone and looked up and stopped, his dark eyes watching the scene before him curiously.

There standing in front of a building with graffiti painted on the side was his new student, her royal blue jacket sleeves rolled up over her elbows and she was holding a soapy sponge in her hand and was trying to wash the paint off of the building while the elderly man next to her yelled curses and insults at her and occasionally hit her...

Iruka's dark eyes narrowed as he noted the area that the man used his thick wooden cane to hit the child with. The elder was hitting her across the small of her back and across the back of her head the girl shifted slightly as the elder smacked her in the back of the head again and started to take a step forward to stop the man when the girl's head snapped forward on her neck dangerously as the resounding sickening crack of thick wood smacked into the back of the girl's head and nearly saw red when he saw the trickle of blood running down the back of her neck.

She lifted her head a little bit and rolled her shoulders and kept scrubbing, ignoring the fact that she was being hurt. Or so it seemed. Iruka looked around and noted that a group of villagers had gathered and some were starting to pick up rocks and throw them at her when on man, a chunin from the looks of him, stepped forward and pulled out a kunai and smirked at the little girl when she turned her head slightly to look at him.

"I wonder if demon's scream when they're hurt." He said as he took several threatening steps towards the girl when Iruka finally heard her voice.

"Don't do it."

Everything got quiet. Everyone in the crowd went utterly silent and still, wondering what was going to happen next. Some in anticipation, others in fear. Iruka felt a chill go down his spine and stared at the girl curiously.

"What did you say bitch?" The man with the kunai sneered at the girl as she dropped the sponge back into the soapy water in the small tin bucket next to her feet and turned to look at him.

"I said, don't do it." The girl said in a voice that gave Iruka the impression of quiet thunder, soft yet intimidating and maybe a little bit frightening at the same time. The man with the kunai looked confused, as if he didn't understand why she might have just more or less warned him off.

And Iruka didn't bother kidding himself, he knew a threat when he heard one and Naru Uzumaki _had _just threatened the man. True that she hadn't used threatening words, but her tone was another story all together. He had never heard such a soft and frightening tone before.

Her tone meant danger to the man with the kunai. But the fool hadn't picked up on that, or he wouldn't still be holding that kunai in his hand and looking like he was ready to use it to lay open the girl's throat.

"Why would you say that? Plan to beg for you're life?" The guy smiled gleefully, his dark eyes sparkling with malice.

Naru tilted her head to the side a little bit, her mid back length strawberry blond hair slipping over her shoulder as she looked at him a sweet smile crossing her angelic little face. Warning bells went off in Iruka's mind as he stared at that expression in awe and just a little bit of fear. "No. You're not worth humbling myself for...you're too weak to really do any damage anyways. I just thought that I would warn you before you forced me to kill you." Naru said as she slowly reached her small hand back behind her and pulled a blackish grey kunai from the waist band of her pants and stood there waiting for the inevitable explosion to occur.

She didn't have to wait long. The man roared in rage as a furious look crossed his face and she smirked and stepped to the side as he charged her, sticking out her foot and tripping the guy as he ran by her and slashed at her, Iruka knew the exact moment that the man realised that he was in trouble. There was a look of fury and hatred on his face as he tripped over her foot as it connected with his shin as Naru raised her hand, the kunai glittering in the sun light ominously as the man fell.

Iruka closed his eyes as she quickly and savagely brought the kunai down on the back of the man's neck, using it to pierce his spine as she buried the blade in the back of his neck and jerked it to the left, back towards her body. Everyone watching screamed as blood spurted into the air as the man's body fell to the ground with a soft thud and started to twitch and spasm at her feet.

Naru didn't bother pulling the kunai out or saying anything.

She just looked at the crowd and walked away while mumbling something about having a headache.


	3. Chapter 3

Naru was laying on her couch in the living room of her apartment, one arm slung over her eyes, her breathing deep and shallow in sleep.

She'd had a rough day in between the beating earlier, and killing the man that had attacked her earlier and learning that she was going to start school in the morning. So it was only natural that she was out cold when her interesting friend, Ookami-san decided to drop by. He came in the usual way, slipping through her living room window, and carefully unraveled the wards and made his way over to her without tripping any of her traps and shook his head as he stared down at the small girl.

A smile curving his lips behind his mask. Poor thing. She hadn't even gotten to the hallway before collapsing this time. He mused as he dropped down to one knee beside her and gently reached out and grasped her wrist lightly in his hand, intending to move her arm away from her face, and jumped a little bit when she twisted her wrist and grabbed his hand and peeked at him out from under her arm and stared at him wearily.

"Ookami-san..." She sounded so tired. He had never heard her sound so tired before.

"Good evening, kit. Did you have a nice nap?" He asked gently in his velvety soft voice. She loved his voice, it was so dark and compelling and gentle...she could have listened to him speak forever.

She let go of his wrist and frowned at him as she moved her arm away from her face. Why did the man feel the need to call her kit every time he saw her? Did it have something to do with the demon inside of her? She wondered curiously as she stretched and moved to sit up as he stood back up and moved back away from her and stood several steps back from her. Some how the both of them had learned that the other wasn't overly fond of physical contact and because they liked and respected each others ability, they went to great lengths to avoid making the other uncomfortable.

"It was okay. How was work?" She asked, mainly because she knew that it bugged him to be reminded of his work and the possible people that he had killed today. Ookami gave _his _kitsune a pointed look as he removed his Anbu mask and laid it on top of her book shelf. Naru snorted in amusement and pointed at his spiky silver colored hair.

"Are you ever going to tell me if that is you're natural color?" She asked in an attempt to make him laugh. He looked at her and shook his head as she sighed in annoyance, causing him to chuckle.

"What do you want to eat tonight?" He asked curiously as he blinked his one dark blue eye at her. She shrugged. She really didn't care as long as it was eatable.

Ookami muttered something under his breath and shook his head as he headed into her kitchen and started to dig through her cabinets, freezer and fridge. He found some peppers, eggplants, green onions, sweet red onions, cucumbers, lettuce, chicken, some chicken broth. And decided to fix some fried chicken, a salad, and some vegetables soup. Naru grabbed the cutting board off of the wall next to the stove and two sharp knives and set the cutting board on the counter next to Ookami and set down one of the knives and picked up an onion and started to peel it in her own slightly clumsy way as he washed some of the other vegetables and set them aside before saying.

"I heard about what happened earlier..." Ookami said softly. Naru looked at him and blinked back tears, feeling just a little annoyed that the onion smell would bother her so much that she would _actually_ cry. _Grr. Damn onion. _Naru thought darkly as she wiped her eyes.

"Is that the only reason that you're here Ookami?" She asked coldly. Maybe a little bit too coldly. She knew that the man worried about her, knew that he cared about her on some level, but for the life of her she just didn't know why. She had never even met him up until the night he had broken into her place five years ago and sat with her and held her after a particularly viscous attack. He had been dropping by and breaking into her place almost every night for the past five years.

Ookami gave her a blank look and she sighed and started to cut the onion in front of her. That had been low of her. And there was no excuse for it. She could sense Ookami's desperation, it was wrapped tightly around him, a subtle scent in the air mixing with his natural scent, he tensed and looked worried and anxious. As if the thought of upsetting her upset _him_. "Sorry, wolfy. I didn't mean to sound like that."

Ookami studied her for a moment before nodding his head. He knew that she hadn't meant to sound so cold. "I worry about you kit..." He said gently and she stopped cutting the onion and looked up at him.

"I know."

"I heard that you were hurt before that _chunin_-" Naru looked at Ookami curiously. Had he just snarled the word chunin? As if he were pissed at the dead man? Hell, even she wasn't mad at the man. He was dead, she _had _killed him, being mad at him at this point was stupid. But Ookami obviously didn't think so if his tone was anything to go by. "Came along and tried to cut you." Naru snickered at his choice of words.

They reminded her of a family guy episode that she had watched with him several nights ago. The one where Brian kidnapped Seabreeze and took her to a motel with really bad roaches.

_"I cut you, man. I cut you up." _

_"Wow...those are some bad roaches." _

_"I blame the schools." _

She snickered a little louder and Ookami stabbed his knife into the cutting board and turned to look at her. He crossed his arms and looked-well, pissed. And who could blame him? Here he was more or less pouring his heart out to the kid, and she was laughing. Laughing! As if having him pour out his heart to her was amusing. It was rather hurtful to have her laugh at him. "Kit. Do you find my feelings amusing?"

"Huh? What? No! No. I'm sorry Ookami, I sort of blanked out when I heard you're choice of words. They reminded me of something funny." Naru said as she sobered up, she didn't like it when Ookami had _that_ expression on his face. Because it reminded her that this man was more or less a stranger to her and like all strangers, he was capable of _great_ violence.

Ookami sighed and ran his fingers through his silver hair then reached out and tugged on a strand of hair, roughly, earning a small yelp from her. "Please pay attention kit. I'm trying to be serious."

She rubbed her head and stared at him from under her hair. "Okay. Okay. Just don't pull my hair anymore."

He smiled at her from under his mask before reaching out and running his fingers along the back of her head, causing her to hiss and stiffen when he brushed up against the still healing skin on the back of her head. "I heard that that old man over by the market was hitting you with his cane again." Ookami said as he dropped his arms back to his sides and frowned at her.

Naru bit her bottom lip and stared up at him fro a second or so. The old man was doing more than just hitting her with his cane. He was one of those sick people that liked to torment others. He'd been trashing his own yard, and painting crap onto the side of his house and blaming it on her. Then he would sic the Anbu on her and make them hunt her down and drag her to his place to clean up the mess that he had made while he hit her over and over and over again while he insulted her and told her just how worthless she was as a human being.

But Ookami didn't need to know these things.

"Yeah. He was."

"Why do you allow it?" Ookami asked her curiously.

Naru didn't know how to answer him aside from the fact that she recognised how strong she was compared to the man and simply didn't want to hurt him, even if he was working to bash the back of her head in. "I dunno."

Ookami got quiet for a second then sighed. He was just a little surprised that his precious kitsune hadn't taken the old man's cane and shoved it up his ass just yet. But then again, Naru was very aware of everything that she did. And how much force she put behind everything. He knew that she knew about the demon. Knew that from time to time the demon fought her for control. He also knew that she went to great lengths to weaken herself physically, as much as she could when the demon tried to take over.

He'd see the legnths she went too in an effort to protect them all. He'd held her as she ripped apart her insides and bled all over the floors of her apartment. He'd carried her to the hospital and watched as she was taken in to the ER kicking and screaming and crying because she didn't want the demon to get out and finish them all off. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small silver chain with a small silver wolf pendant on it and handed it to her.

She blinked and took the necklace and stared at it. "What's this?"

"A necklace infused with my chakra. I held a meeting earlier with my men and several other units and their leaders because I want you to come strait to me from now on if you're in trouble. Everyone will recognise the necklace and my chakra and let you into the Anbu head quarters."

It was maybe the most thought out and kindest thing anyone had ever done for her. She slipped it over her head and dropped it so that the pendant fell against her chest and smiled at him. "Thank you Ookami. But what are I supposed to do if you're on a mission or hurt and can't be disturbed?"

He leaned down until they were eye to eye and kissed the tip of her nose and smiled at her. "I'll _make_ time for you kit."


	4. Chapter 4

Naru and Ookami had a pleasant dinner, watched some TV and when Naru finally dozed off Ookami put her to bed and left after setting her alarm and making a mental note to come back in the morning so that he could walk her to school since it was going to be her first day and she might get nervous.

He slipped out her window and ran across the roof tops to his own home and unlocked the door and stepped inside and pulled off his wolf mask and set it on the table beside the door along with his head band and looked around his darkened home and smiled when his eyes landed on the small faded picture of his old team. A tall blond man with vivid dark blue eyes stood with his hand on his head grinning like mad.

His former jounin sensei. The man that had become the Fourth Hokage. Naru's father.

The only person in the world that he had had left, and the man had gone and gotten himself and his wife killed. Ookami knew that it wasn't Minato's fault. He also knew that the attack on the village nine years ago hadn't been Kushina's fault either. And while he had been upset that the only family he had had left was now gone, they had left him a wonderful gift. Something that he treasured more and more each day.

Their daughter.

His precious kitsune.

His lips curved up in a smile. Naru was such an strong, kind and amazing person. And he loved the girl, more than he ever imagined he would. But then again he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised, Naru had the same peculiar ability that her father had had. All she had to do was talk to someone just for a little while and could establish a bond that could easily last forever. And she was such a sweet and honest kid.

And despite what others might say about the girl, Naru wasn't a trouble maker. Sure she might chuck paint off of monument mountain from time to time, and occasionally break into the library in the Hokage's building and steal a good scroll or two. But that wasn't really her fault.

She wanted to learn jutsu and such, but no one would teach her or help her so she often took things into her own hands in an effort to learn. He couldn't blame her for doing things that way since it wasn't easy for her to trust others to help her.

So he had made it a habit to watch her work from a nice comfortable distance. Far, far away. But not so far that he wouldn't be able to help her if she needed it, and sat in his favorite tree and made sure that she practiced her new abilities safely, and comfortably, without trouble from anyone.

And he had to say, the kid knew an impressive range of high level jutsu. She had taught herself the Resangan just by watching the toad sage Jiraiya use it in an demonstration!

Once! And he was just so...so proud of her.

He picked up the picture and stared at it and smiled as he ran his thumb over his former teacher's face, wiping away some of the dust that had collected there. "Minato, do you see you're girl? She such a wonderful and special girl."

He stood there as if waiting for a reply and could have sworn that he heard Minato's voice whisper. "_She'll be the greatest we've ever seen..." _Ookami smiled and nodded his head in agreement.

Yeah. Naru would be the best that they had ever seen. He'd see to it personally.

He put the picture down and walked back to his room, stripping off his clothes and decided to take a shower before he went to bed.

(*******************************************************************************************************************************************)

Ookami grabbed a few hours sleep and was back at Naru's place in five hours. He had been in her kitchen cooking her breakfast and drinking the coffee that she had bought for him and took the chance to look around her place while it was quiet.

The apartment itself was'nt so bad.

It was bigger than a normal apartment. The floors and walls were in pretty good condition. The Hokage's doing no doubt, since the man had drafted Ibiki and some of his men to help keep the place looking decent and to repair the damages that the villagers did to the place.

The yellow walls were freshly painted, covering up the gaudy wallpaper that had been on the walls before with the nice just shy of sunny yellow color. The color on the walls was actually a buttercup yellow and looked really nice. He snickered and lifted his coffee cup to his lips and thought about _his_ buttercup.

It was almost time for her to get up. He'd been counting down the seconds since he got here.

Sure enough, when he reached the 'zero' in his head there was a semi loud blaring sound down the hall followed by a yelp a soft thud and some other thudding, which he could only assume was Naru throwing kunai everywhere thinking that she was under attack or something.

He waited three minutes, enough time for Naru to completely wake up before he even bothered to walk down the hall and peek into her room.

Naru sat in the middle of her room with the blanket wrapped around her body, her long strawberry blond hair sticking up in all directions, looking more than a little frazzled and confused as he peeked around the corner of her bedroom door just to be safe. She noticed him and lifted one hand and gave him a small wave. He gave her an eye smile and moved to step out into the open and walked into her room.

"Hey. Sleep well?"

She made a hning sound and looked around her room. No doubt curious about where the blaring sound had come from since he had hidden the clock so that she wouldn't break it. "Ookami...did you hear-"

"Hear what?" He asked innocently. She gave him a calculating look but didn't seem to believe his small lie.

"You want me to hurt you. Don't you?" He just grinned at her and waited. She growled at him and stood up, ditching the blanket as she did. He found her growl adorable and laughed.

"Get dressed Naru. You have to be ready to go in another thirty minutes."

"Is breakfast ready?"

"Yup."

"Okay. Get out so I can take a shower and get dressed."


	5. Chapter 5

Naru was such a funny kid.

Ookami thought twenty eight minutes after he had woken her up to get ready for school. He was currently sitting at the dining room table watching the girl scurry from one end of the room to another while trying to pull on her jacket, socks and shoes while also trying to collect her note books, pencils, papers and was trying desperately not to laugh at her every time she tripped and fell.

Finally after a few seconds of running around like a chicken with it's head cut off she finally stopped moving and stood in the middle of her living room with a thoughtful expression on her pretty face. "Do you have everything?" He asked curiously, silently hoping to excite her into some more frantic activity. It didn't work, but whatever. He'd have all day to spy on her and watch her run around like mad.

She looked at him and nodded her head as she glanced down at her back pack and wrinkled her nose. At least she _thought _she had everything. He smiled and slowly rose out of his chair and walked across the room and opened the front door and waited for her to zip up her bag and run over to his side. He held the door open for her and slipped out behind her after locking it and making sure that he picked up the house key off of the table next to the door where Naru had accidentally left it and handed it to her and gave her a pointed look.

She scowled at him and stuffed the key into her pocket and slipped her right arm through the shoulder straps and pulled her bag up onto her shoulder and started walking while Ookami pulled out his wallet and dug out some money and held it out to her. She blinked and gave him a curious look. "Lunch money." He said gently as he grasped her hand and placed the money in her palm and closed her fingers around it.

"Hey, Ookami...I've got a question..."

Ookami turned his head to look at her. When did she ever _not_have a question? "Why would a high ranking Anbu captain like yourself walk an orphan kid like me to school? Do you have some sort of interest in me aside from being my friend?" She was pretty sure that he did have some sort of interest in her beyond being friends. She just wasn't sure what it was. And she already knew that he probably wouldn't tell her. But she still felt that she had to ask.

He looked at her with a peculiar expression on his masked face before saying. "Because you're special."

She cocked her head and studied him before asking. "Special to you? Special because of the demon? Or special to the village?"

"All three." Ookami answered honestly as he reached out and hooked his index finger around her own, figuring that she might object to holding hands with him because it was an uncomfortable form of contact for her, but believed that she wouldn't mind this small contact since it wasn't anything too overwhelming to her.

She looked at their linked fingers and smiled a little bit and he smiled back.

It was half true that he had a special interest in her. Well okay, it was all true. But she was just a little too young to know that her father had arranged for the two of them to marry when she became older. And she didn't need to know that he was sticking to her fathers plan because he really wanted to be close to her, or that as long as he was watching her Danzou and the council wouldn't be able to carry out their threats against her.

He knew that she was a smart girl, and knew that she would figure things out eventually. And that was fine. But in the mean time he wanted her to live her life as freely and unhindered as she could. He wanted her to have fun and make friends and be herself without fear. These were the things that he had worked hard as an Anbu to protect. Her freedom. Her childhood. Her future.

Because he knew that the village and it's people would crumble-no! _He_ would crumble and fall to pieces without her.

He walked her up to the door of the school buildings, ignoring the curious, angry and wary looks aimed their way from the kids and adults present and knelt down to say a proper goodbye to his kitsune. He gripped the zipper of her jacket and zipped it up then smiled at her and told her to be good and make lots of friends, and not to test her latest jutsu's on her fellow teachers then kissed her on the forehead and then stood up and vanished.

Leaving Naru to deal with the swarm of people who all demanded to know why an Anbu had been walking her to school. She got the sense that it wasn't something that happened often.


	6. Chapter 6

The first day of school didn't go exactly as planned for Naru.

It was'nt her fault. Not really. Nor was it anyone elses fault.

But it still hurt her that the other kids, and even the teacher had all more or less picked on her. Well okay, the kids picked and the teacher Mr. Iruka...well she didn't know what the hell his problem was, but she was damn sure going to find out.

Which was why she was waiting for him in the men's room after class had let out. Now she was'nt stupid enough to peek at someone while they were doing their buisness. That was just creepy. And she was'nt curious about the male anatomy so she didn't really care what was where or what looked one way or another or how big it was.

She was just there for answers.

Although when she really thought about it she probably should have just waited outside. But she didn't follow him in completely. She waited around the corner until she heard him turn on the sink and start to wash his hands before stepping into the horrible white room that was so bright that it almost fried her retna's. She waited patiently for him to finish up and turn around and notice her before she said anything.

Although it might have been easier if he had'nt screamed as soon as he saw her. "Naru! What are you doing here?"

She jumped at the volume of his voice and took several cautious steps back and put a shaky hand up over her heart and tried to calm herself. His scream had shaken her more than she had thought it would. Iruka glared at her and crossed his arms. Of all the things this girl could have done, peeping-no not peeping...spying on someone while they took a-

His face turned as red as a tomato as he realised in horror that she might have seen his-

He growled and stomped over to her and grabbed her wrist and jerked her along behind him, ignoring her hiss of pain as he squeezed her wrist until hsi knuckles turned white as he dragged her out of the bathroom and out into the hall and then towards the bathroom before he realised that he was hurting her and loosened his hold a bit and finally slowed then stopped and turned to look at her.

She yanked her wrist from his grasp automatically and looked at him as if he had just sprouted a second head. Her wide violet eyes glittering with unshed tears. He frowned. He could'nt have hurt her that much. Or at least that was what he had thought until he saw the black, blue, purple and yellow marks showing on her skin.

Damn. He had hurt her that badly. He dropped down to one knee in front of her and tried to take her wrist so that he could make sure that he had'nt accidentally broken it and reigned in his temper so that he would'nt accidentally hurt her again and asked. "Naru, what did you think that you were doing in there? Were you planning to play a prank on me?" He hoped not since that would be the worst way to start and end his career as a teacher.

Watch him take a leak and scream 'pedophile'.

Naru kept pulling her wrist from his grasp every time he tried to check it for broken bones, apparently she thought he would just hurt her again if she allowed him to check over the damage. It finally got to the point where she actually slapped his hands away from her and glared at him as she cradled her hurt wrist against her chest. "I wanted to know what you're problem is, _sensei..._" Naru snarled at him, Iruka looked taken aback, and Naru would bet that this was the first time that a child had ever snarled at him.

But in her defense, he had hurt her first. So whatever happened next was his own fault as far as she was concerned.

Iruka looked at her strangley. What did she mean? His problem? He didn't have a problem. He just...oh. _Oh!_

His eyes widened as he realised what she was refering too.

She was talking about the incident earlier when the kids had been picking on her and he had told them to stop because she was no good. He sighed and sat down. He was'nt sure why he had said that. He wasn't even proud that he had said that about her, especially after he had caught the happy and hopeful expression on her face when she had thought that he was defending her. "I don't have a problem Naru." He lied.

He did have a problem. But it didn't have anything to do with a vendetta against her or his hatred for the nine tailed fox. It had more to do with the fact that he just wasn't sure what to do with her. He knew that he could try to foist her off on someone else, but that teacher would probably do more harm than good since no one in the school wanted anything to do with her. "Your lying sensei."

He looked at her with a startled expression on his face as she reached out and put her hand against his cheek and said. "You're an idiot if you think you can lie to me. I can see you're confusion and doubt. I can also see that you have no hatred or malice towards me. So why then did you say that I'm no good? Do you really feel that I'm worthless somewhere deep down?"

"No! No that isn't how I feel at all. I think your a pretty decent person all things considered. To be perfectly honest...I don't know why I said that. I've been looking at you're files, talking to people, I've looked at things from every angle and I just don't know what to do with you. I don't know how to talk to you, how to reach out, I don't know much about you're personality or what you think, but I think that I'd like to know. I just don't know how to act towards you. What if I actually start to like you and something happens and the demon takes over! What if I have to fight you to protect the other kids-" _What if I have to kill you?_ Hung unsaid in the air between them and Naru finally understood the problem. He was worried that he would grow attached to her and have to kill her.

_What a pain. _She thought as she sighed and ran her fingers through her long silky hair then finally said. "_That_, sensei will never happen." She was stronger that she appeared to be. She was also more ruthless and cunning than people gave her credit for. And she knew without a doubt that if the demon ever managed to take her over and she started to go crazy and attack the village...

She would destroy herself before she so much as laid a hand on anyone.

The second seal that she had placed on herself in secret would see to it that she was dead before she hit the ground.


	7. Chapter 7

Iruka had never been so stunned as he had been when Naru had touched the tip of his nose and said, "_That_, sensei will never happen." She had sounded so convinced. So sure that they would never be put into that position. And the look on her face, and her eyes had told him everything that her words hadn't.

She _knew_ about the _demon_.

She _knew_ the _dangers_.

And she was _prepared_ to destroy herself to keep the village safe.

He was beyond stunned to tell the truth. He was in awe of her. He had never met anyone so young, and already so damn brave. He walked behind her out of the building and stopped at the door as an Anbu in a wolf mask dropped down out of a tree several feet away and seemed to be waiting on her. Naru turned her head and looked at Iruka. "I'll see you tomorrow sensei."

"Yeah. Sure. Be careful going home." He said as she walked down the steps and ran over to the Anbu and hooked index fingers with him and started talking to him and Iruka blinked and cocked his head. What kind of child made friends with a cold blooded killer?

He made a mental note to start treating the girl better than he had today and headed home for the night to think.

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Ookami had been curious about why Naru had taken so long to come outside the school building. And he had been furious when he had seen the bruises on her wrist. Yet Naru hadn't told him anything aside from the fact that she had wanted to talk to her teacher.

Pushing his patience a little more as he had walked her home. Both of them ignoring the pointing, the insults and rocks and other things thrown their way. Once back at the apartment Ookami pulled off his mask and head band and turned to face her as she set her back pack down and slipped off her shoes. He waited until her shoes were off before he reached out and snatched her up off of the floor and carried her over to the couch and dropped her onto it and then stomped off to her bedroom and slammed the door closed.

Leaving her laying on the couch wondering what was wrong with him.

Ookami slammed his head into the the wall across the room farthest from the door, and gritted his teeth as his fangs and finger nails lengthened dangerously. It had been a while since he had felt such a strong need for blood but he was really feeling the need now. He was utterly furious with himself. Not because he had actually down something wrong per say, but because Naru had been wounded while he had waited for her outside.

He'd been right _fucking _there, hidden in that tree, scanning the area for potential threats. And his kitsune had _still _gotten hurt! And to make matters worse, Naru refused to tell him who had dared to touch her and leave marks on her pale skin. He wanted retribution goddammit!

He wanted the blood of the one who had dared to touch his future bride. He wanted to rip through the flesh and tear apart the bones of the one responsible for putting those damned bruises on her little wrist. He rested his forehead against the wooden wall and curled his fingers against the wall, leaving deep furrows in the wood as he slowly tried to regain control of his temper as Naru knocked on the door.

"Ookami?" His head snapped around and he stared at the closed door through narrowed mis matched eyes. Naru. His Naru, she sounded worried about him. The worry he heard in her tone triggered something in his mind and before he even realised what he was doing he was across the room and opening the door and grabbing the front of her shirt and yanking her inside of the room and slamming the door closed again and pushing her up against it as he hooked his index finger in his mask and tugging it down below his chin as he dropped down to his knees in front of her and pressed hsi lips against hers as she tipped her head back to look at him.

Or maybe it was to ask him what he was doing. He wasn't sure and to be perfectly honest, he didn't care. All he cared about was kissing his future mate.

Naru jerked her head back as soon as his lips made contact with hers, and hissed in pain when her head slammed into the door none too gently, she was about to ask Ookami what he was doing when she felt his lips against her own, the contact wasn't like before. Before had been slight, gentle. This touch was more demanding and desperate, making it hard for her to even try to lift her hands to push him away.

It wasn't like he was hurting her after all, he was just crowding her a little bit. She felt his lips part slightly and something snaked out to run along her bottom lip. She made a bizarre squeaking sound and jerked her head back, banging it into the wall again and pushed against his chest a little bit. He didn't budge, but then she hadn't really expected to be able to move a two hundred and thirty pound male like him anyways. She just wanted a little room so that she didn't feel so cornered and trapped.

She felt him lift his head a little bit and slip a hand behind her head so that he was palming her head before he muttered something about not wanting her to knock herself out and leaned down again to press his lips against hers again in a feather light caress before sighing and resting his bruised forehead against her shoulder and took several deep breaths to calm himself all the while cursing his damn blood line limit for taking control for a second there and after a moment or so moved away from her.

"I'm sorry Naru. I didn't mean to do that." He said as he pulled his mask up so that she couldn't see his face. Naru just stood there staring blankly ahead, not really seeing or hearing him, she was sort of in shock.

It took a moment or so for her to shake herself free of her funk enough to ask him. "If you didn't mean to; then why did you?"

He looked at her warily. "Dunno." He lied and looked away from her, missing the predatory look that crossed her face.

He was lying to her! Him of all people! The one person in all the village that she cared for and trusted the most and he was lying to her! She bared her teeth and growled at him and reached out and in a lightening quick move, punched him in the stomach. Ookami yelped and jumped back and looked at her in surprise and shock.

She'd hit him. She never hit him. Even that one time he had cut her hair while she was sleeping as a practical joke, then dyed it sky blue. She'd been royally pissed at him then, but she had never hit him. "Naru?"

"Get out." He stared at her, wondering what was wrong. And started to worry that the Kyubbi was trying to take her over again. He reached out to grab her, needing to check her over and she snarled at him and ducked under his hands and moved out of his reach and glared at him angrily.

"Naru what-"

"I could ask you the same thing, but you'd probably just lie to me again, so get out." He blinked at her and dropped his arms back to his sides, his heart aching in his chest as he realised his mistake. Naru had an almost zero tolerance for liars. She already had enough trouble trusting people as it was, and hated it when people lied to her. Especially since she only had a hand full of people that she trusted.

He started to say something, to explain himself and why he had lied without thinking, but the sight of tears slipping down her face stopped him cold. She wouldn't listen to him right now, she was simply too upset. So he nodded hsi head and walked over to her bedroom window and slipped out without another word and took up his place on the roof of her apartment and tried to make himself comfortable since he would probably be spending the next month strait there on her roof instead of inside with her.

God he was an idiot.


	8. Chapter 8

A week had passed since Naru had tossed Ookami out of her place in anger and she was missing him. She missed his laughter, his warmth, his kindness...she sighed and hung her head and jumped when she felt something hit her in the head and looked up into Iruka's irritated dark eyes. "Naru, is there something that you want to say about our village history since you seem _sooo_ into it?"

"That's a loaded question sensei. And I refuse to dignify it with a response." Naru said in an amused tone as she propped herself up on her desk. Iruka snorted and reached out to take the chalk that he had thrown at her as she held it out to him then smiled at her and walked away.

The rest of class progressed smoothly, then at two p.m. the bell for recess rang and all of the students filed out of the room to go play outside. Iruka waited until Naru was the last one left and pulled her aside, curious to know what had been distracting her so much the past week. Naru looked up at him as he pulled her aside and dropped down to one knee and asked softly. "Naru is everything okay? You've been very distracted the past week and I've been wondering if everything is okay."

Naru mentally went over what to say but decided that telling him that she had gotten mad at Ookami and thrown him out of her place was out of the question. "I sort of had a fight with a friend and now I'm not speaking to him and I'm sort of bummed about it." Other than that everything in her life was as peachy as it could be, she suppossed. Iruka gave her an 'oh' look and patted her on the head awkwardly.

"I see. And what did you and your friend fight about?"

She wrinkled her nose at him and made a huffing sound. "He _lied_to me." She sounded so upset by the fact that she had been lied to by her friend that Iruka wasn't sure what to say.

"And what did he lie to you about?" He asked curiously.

"He lied to me about why he kissed me." She said with a dark look as her face turned pink. Though she was loath to admit it, Ookami did have some very nice, soft lips. They had felt rather pleasent against her own.

Iruka blinked at her then busted out laughing. Okay, now this he could deal with since she was obviously wanting to make up with her friend then maybe he could help her out with some advice. "Okay, okay, okay-" He said inbetween shuddering breaths as he patted her on the top of her head again. "Here is something that you need to learn about boys..." He said as he leaned in a little bit and grinned at her. "Boys, are stupid."

Naru blinked at him and cocked her head. "Really?"

Iruka grinned even more. "Yup. Completely and utterly. Especially when there is a girl involved."

"Why's that?"

"I'm not sure. But I can tell you this, your friend must really care about you a lot to have kissed you. He also must have felt very embaressed."

Naru cocked her head just a little bit more. Embaressed? Could that be the reason that Ookami had lied to her? He had been embaressed because he had shown her a little bit of affection. It was a possiblity, she suppossed. Especially considering how much Ookami prided himself on his control over his emotions. _Hmm..._ She guessed that she could talk to him about it since he had more or less been her shadow since she had kicked him out.

She looked out the window across the room and caught sight of him hanging upside down, his head poking through the leaves staring right at her. She frowned as he pulled himself back up into the tree and proceeded to blend in again. He had actually let her see him, how odd. _He must really be at his wits end. _She thought as she sighed and ran her fingers through her long hair, pushing it back from her face as she thanked Iruka and walked out of the class room to go play outside.

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Ookami was anxious. So much so that he was trying to chew on his finger nails through his porcilan mask, an impossible feat to be sure but he was giving it his damndest shot. It had been a week since Naru had told him to leave and he had been going out of his mind. He could'nt eat. He could'nt sleep. And two nights ago he had been summoned to assassinate a small family living along the border of the Leaf and Sauna border.

The mission had been simple enough. Kill everyone. But he hadn't been informed that everyone meant the families small children. All three of them. Tessa, an angelic little girl with dark hair and rosy cheeks who was afraid of the dark even at the age of eight. Miki, the middle child, the only son of the family, he had been six. And then there had been the baby-

That had been the hardest one to kill.

The third child had been one month old Cara, another dark haired little angel, and she had looked up at him so trustingly even though he had been standing over her covered in the blood of her parents her brother and sister, and he had cried as he picked her up and took her outside and wrapped her in her blanket and tied a heavy rock to it and used a drug that he carried on him to put her to sleep so that she would'nt wake up of feel anything as she died, and then dropped her into the well outside and walked a good distance before he finally collapsed and got sick.

He never would have taken that mission if he had known about the children. He would have left them to someone who had a taste for killing others. Someone devoid of a heart and soul. But he hadn't been informed and had been too late to back out once he had reached the house.

He had been a mess after he had returned to the village and had wanted to see Naru so badly, but had stopped himself from going to see her until he was absolutely certain that she had been asleep and had gone into her room and sat in the floor across from her bed and quietly rocked back and forth and cried until it had been time for Naru to wake up. He had left, and had spent the rest of his day picking up really bad habits in an effort to calm himself.

Nothing had worked.

He was still a mess. And in desperate need of something that only Naru could give him. The only problem was that she still wasn't talking to him.

He made a frustrated sound and was about to leave when a small black shoe flew up into the tree directly in front of his face. Reaching out on reflex he grabbed it and looked down and blinked in suprise at Naru. When had she come outside? And how long had he been zoned out? "We need to talk." Naru said as he dropped down out of the tree and landed lightly on the balls of his feet in front of her.

He didn't say anything as he handed her her shoe and watched her put it on. "You know that I don't like liars wolf. So tell me the truth. Did you kiss me because you like me?" Naru asked innocently. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and nodded his head.

God yes, he liked her-no wait, 'like' didn't even begin to describ his feelings for her.

He _loved_ her.

Naru stood on her tip toes and reached out to him, he grabbed her and picked her up so that she could wrap her arms around his neck and hug him. "Dummy. You should have just said so." She said gently and he squeezed her and buried his masked face against the side of her neck.

"I missed you." He admitted in a shaky tone. Naru smiled and hugged him tighter.

"I missed you too wolf."

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The next chapter is going to be a time skip to graduation.

Quick question-

How many fans out there would love a nice labyrinth story with kakashi as the goblin king-sporting a mullet.

Thanks for reading.


	9. Chapter 9

Six Years later-

Graduation day at the academy would always be a day to remember in Iruka's mind, since it was the day that his first batch of students were finally being recognised as adults in the eyes of their peers. The head bands that he handed to them all indicated their hard work and dedication towards being great shinobi of the leaf village. And he had never been more proud of a student as he had been with Naru once she took her head band and bowed to him politely before turning around to face her fellow class mates, now her comrades, and tied the head band into place over her forehead and walked back to her seat.

Pausing breifly to look at Shika when he said something half jokingly. Something like, "Crap, you're here."

Iruka watched the exchange and smiled. Those kids had been a handful, especially the boys in the class that had started competing with Naru to be the top nin. They had caused Iruka trouble to no end. Now the boys seemed to be competing against each other in a different way, and Iruka couldn't help but notice just how pretty and mature Naru was compared to the other kids.

The boys would be knocking down her door asking her for a date. He mused with a grin as the graduation ceremony concluded and he told everyone to enjoy the drinks and food that he had put togehter for them as he picked up his books and the rest of the headbands, since a faw kids hadn't graduated and walked out of the room.

"Man, I thought that this day would never come." Kiba said as he stood up and stretched his hands above his head. Shino nodded his head in agreement but said nothing. Naru grabbed herself a drink and some food to snack on and sat down when Ino and Sakura walked up to her.

"What are you eating Naru?" Ino asked curiously as she checked out what was on the blond girl's plate and cringed. Greasy potato chips and some onion dip with some cheese and crackers on the side. Naru didn't have a self concious bone in her body it would seem.

"Ew. Aren't you afraid that you'll get fat if you eat that?" Sakura asked.

Naru looked up at them and picked up another chip and dipped it in the onion stuff and popped it into her mouth and chewed happily. The dip was good, the cheese and crackers were good, and she didn't care what they thought. "It's good." Naru finally said as she swallowed her food.

"But are'nt you worried about getting fat? How will you get yourself a boyfriend if you do?"

"No and I don't have any interest in men. So I don't need one to feel good about myself." Naru said as she popped another chip into her mouth and smiled at the horrified expressions on the two girl's faces.

Ino reached out and placed her hand on Naru's shoulder and shook her head as she said, "Oh you poor thing." Pissing off Naru a little bit because she made her sound as if she were pitiful for not wanting to need a man like they did.

Naru bared her teeth at their backs and silently snarled. _Bitches. _

There was nothing wrong with her.

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Ookami handed the Hokage his wolf mask and stepped back away from the desk feeling more than a little weird about all the people staring at his back. "Are you sure that you want to do this Kakashi? I understand you're relationship with Naru is going well so-"

"I can't court her properly while wearing my Anbu mask. I've been forced to lie to her more than I should have already. I need to come clean about everything and make our bond stronger or some little _prick_-" Kakashi growled the word in irritation. "Could take her from me." The thought of someone like the Nara boy or the Uchiha taking his kitsune from him pissed him off royally.

And he knew-he had been watching them all for years and knew the exact moment that the boys had started to notice Naru as a girl and not a rival. It had been two years ago at one of the school dances. Naru had been in rare form in her deep sapphire blue knee length halter dress, her long hair had been piled on top of her head with some small spiral curls hanging down.

She had been beautiful. Gorgeous.

He had seen the spark of interest that had shown in their eyes. He had seen it all clearly as he had watched from the rafters above their heads. And he hadn't liked it. Not one little bit. But he had to give credit where credit was due, Naru knew how to tell the boys to fuck off. And she had done it before he had felt the need to drop down out of the rafters and hurt them.

The Hokage chuckled. Of course Kakashi would worry about things like that. Naru was a beautiful young woman, so he supposed it was only natural. "Alright then. If your completely sure, just don't get carried away with-" Sarutobi snickered a little bit. "Wooing your future wife."


End file.
